Caleb Skrtel News Today

>> after skrtel stops recording, the fire department arrives. the tree is sprayed with water and cut down, but its fiery final moments are forever caught on camera. >> it was just amazing, especially coming from electricity. its kind of a rare, awesome moment. >> august 16th, 2009. a fire breaks out at a warehouse on the trans-alaska highway in fort st. john, british columbia. >> we had no idea what was in there, really. just the color of the smoke was a clear indicator it had a heavy hydrocarbo...

>> now its really heating up. >> looks further down, too. oh, my gosh! >> theres nothing the spectators can do as the fire moves down the center of the tree. >> im moving back a little bit. i can feel that. >> theres kind of the bzzz sound and you could feel it throughout your entire body. i could feel it in my chest, just pulsating. being there was just surreal. >> but the flaming tree is just getting started. skrtel and his neighbors have no idea an explosion is seconds away. the tree begins t...

>> damn! >> there was like this flash of light and a very, very loud, just insanely loud like a bomb going off. >> but its not over yet. after a brief pause, electricity surges through the tree once again. >> and the crazy thing was, there was that first explosion and then were like whoa, that was crazy, and then it starts again, like bzzz, bzzz and then boom! >> the blast affects more than just the tree. it knocks out power throughout town. >> it actually blew a circuit breaker which shut down ...

>> now its really heating up. >> looks further down, too. oh, my gosh! >> theres nothing the spectators can do as the fire moves down the center of the tree. >> im moving back a little bit. i can feel that. >> theres kind of the bzzz sound and you could feel it throughout your entire body. i could feel it in my chest, just pulsating. being there was just surreal. >> but the flaming tree is just getting started. skrtel and his neighbors have no idea an explosion is seconds away. the tree begins t...

October 3rd, 2009. a large tree makes contact with a section of power lines on a residential street in bellingham, washington. the branches start smoldering, then ignite. >> there goes the first piece of branch. >> the wind would gust and it would blow it into the power line. >> caleb skrtel lives across the street and starts recording the unusual event on his cell phone as his neighbors begin to gather and watch. >> holy! >> at that point, like we had already called the fire department. it seem...

October 3rd, 2009. a large tree makes contact with a section of power lines on a residential street in bellingham, washington. the branches start smoldering, then ignite. >> there goes the first piece of branch. >> the wind would gust and it would blow it into the power line. >> caleb skrtel lives across the street and starts recording the unusual event on his cell phone as his neighbors begin to gather and watch. >> holy! >> at that point, like we had already called the fire department. it seem...

>> caleb skrtel lives across the street and starts recording the unusual event on his cell phone as the neighbors begin to gather and watch. >> at that point, like we had already called the fire department. it seemed like most people were just kind of standing around, eyes to the sky. >> this is amazing. >> this is ridiculous. >> powerful jolts of electricity pulse through the tree, down to the ground, over and over again. >> i think it was like a 24,000 volt power line. i think thats what the e...

Sound and you could feel it throughout your entire body. i could feel it in my chest, just pulsating. >> jeez! >> being there was just surreal. >> but the flaming tree is just getting started. skrtel and his neighbors have no idea an explosion is seconds away. the tree begins to pulse like a neon sign and then -- >> holy [ bleep ]! >> there was like this flash of light and a very, very loud, just insanely loud like a bomb going off. >> but its not over yet. after a brief pause, electricity surge...

Again, like bzzz, bzzz and then boom! >> the blast affects more than just the tree. it knocks out power throughout town. >> it actually blew a circuit breaker which shut down power to all of downtown bellingham for several hours. >> that was like five minutes of burning. yeah. like obliteration. >> after skrtel stops recording, the fire department arrives. the tree is sprayed with water and cut down, but its fiery final moments are forever caught on camera. >> it was just amazing, especially com...